Adam Doughty, 13, a rising eighth grader at North Cobb Christian School, began using a metal detector to search for items last summer. Earlier this spring, Doughty discovered an old plate with the name J.N. McEachern and address R.T. 1 Powder Springs in the woods of a property his father was selling on Villa Rica Road just north of Macland Road in Powder Springs. Doughty is donating the old plate to McEachern Memorial United Methodist Church in Powder Springs. Staff/Laura Moon

Thirteen-year-old Adam Doughty loves digging up the past. While using his metal detector, the Powder Springs resident found a link to Cobb County’s prominent McEachern family.

He received his metal detector one year ago for Christmas.

“I was wanting a metal detector because I’ve been interested in that for two years,” Adam said. “I had another metal detector, but I wanted to upgrade so that I could find some of the things that were deeper in the earth.”

Adam unearthed a metal plaque on property on Villa Rica Road near the intersection of Macland Road. The plaque was broken, but when pieced together read, “J.N. McEachern, R.T. 1, Powder Springs.”

The rising eighth-grade student at North Cobb Christian said, “The smaller piece revealed that it did say ‘McEachern.’ We were really excited when we saw that.”

“I wasn’t quite sure at first what it was — a mailbox sign, a house sign or what it went on. We weren’t sure if it was J.N. McEachern or J.N. McEachern Jr.,” said Adam, who has found other objects of interest such as two Civil War bullets (a Union 3-ringer and a pistol ball/buckshot) and part of a bayonet.

“My mom thought (the plaque) was very interesting,” said Adam, the son of Pam and Chuck Doughty.

Adam and his mother contacted two different McEacherns listed in the phone book but neither was related to J.N. McEachern.

“We didn’t quite know what to do after that,” he said.

Adam’s mother posted a picture of the plaque on the Old Marietta Facebook page started by Davis McCollum of Marietta. McCollum quickly identified it.

“It was quite easy for me to immediately identify (the plaque) as the mailbox or door sign of Col. John Newton McEachern, CSA (1853-1928),” McCollum said.

McCollum said McEachern was the husband of his great-grand aunt and Georgia Women of Achievement Honoree Lula C. Dobbs McEachern (1874-1949). The McEacherns were founders of McEachern Memorial United Methodist Church and Foundation, Industrial Life and Health Insurance of Atlanta (now Life of Georgia), and The Macland School (now McEachern High School).

After receiving the information from McCollum, Adam donated the plaque to McEachern Memorial United Methodist Church.

“(The church’s) founder was J.N. McEachern. I believe they would appreciate having a part of their history of who founded their church,” he said.

“My dream is to be an archaeologist, but I’m still thinking about that. I love history. I especially love digging up history. You know the old saying, ‘If you love what you do you never work a day in your life.’ It’s kind of like that. It’s not that I don’t want to work but I think that (archaeology) would be a really good job for me,” he said.

Fact check! "Col. John Newton McEachern, CSA (1853-1928)" would have been twelve when the American Civil War ended in 1865. His father was appointed by Jefferson Davis as some sort of local official, so perhaps it was the elder McEachern who was the colonel?

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